Urge the New Congress to Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010

Please sign the following letter to Congress, asking our elected officials to raise the minimum wage to $10 in 2010.

As people of faith, we call on the 111th Congress to raise the minimum wage and join us in bringing needed economic security to our families, our communities and our country.

An adequate minimum wage is a bedrock moral value for our nation. Where the Congress sets the minimum wage reflects whether our society truly believes that workers are human beings with inherent dignity, inalienable rights and basic needs such as food, shelter and health care.

It is immoral that people work full time but have to choose between paying the rent and paying for food, paying for childcare or paying for healthcare. It is immoral that some are paid so little their children go without necessities while others are paid so much their grandchildren will live in luxury without having to work at all. A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

It is immoral that the minimum wage is worth less now than it was the year Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis while fighting for living wages for sanitation workers. The eroded value of the minimum wage has reinforced growing inequality, which has given the richest 1 percent of Americans a greater share of our nation's income than any year since 1928. This has undermined our communities, our economy and our democracy. Prophetic voices like Dr. King and others throughout the ages have called for justice for the underprivileged and poorest in society.

We, diverse people of faith from all across America, call on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10 in 2010.

Sincerely,

To read the entire letter, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

To sign the letter, PLEASE CLICK HERE.